FAI F2B World Championships 2006 Valladolid Spain
By: Kim Doherty
There are few things in the life of a control line competitor as convoluted, straightforward, frustrating, uplifting, exciting, disappointing, refreshing, challenging, rewarding, educational and satisfying as competing in the World Control Line Championships. Valladolid Spain 2006 would be no different.
The Canadian F2B team for 2006 would consist of Konstantine Bajaikine, Bill Konduros and myself. Just three weeks before departure for Spain, Konstantine was working 3.5m up on an improvised scaffold in his new home when he slipped and fell to the floor. The resulting injuries were catastrophic. Konstantine fractured his left hand and wrist, severely fractured his right hand and wrist and severely fractured his right ankle. He required five hours of surgery, had pins and an external fixator on his right forearm wrist and hand and multiple plates and screws in his ankle. I visited him in hospital four days after the accident. He put on a brave face but I knew that he was scared about the future and depressed at not being able to compete for Canada at the World Champs.
Update: August 18, 2006
I spent most of yesterday with Konstantine. He had the pins taken out of his wrist and the cast removed from his right foot two days ago. His spirits are up a bit but he is still concerned about his right wrist. His foot still needs a flexible walking cast but he can hobble around on crutches. He is starting to lay out plans for a new stunter and will be judging at our Eastern Canadian Stunt contest next weekend. Please join me in wishing him a full and speedy recovery. You can contact him at: konstbaj@yahoo.com
Bill brought his wife Cathy and his two charming daughters Tamara and Christy. We flew Air Transat to Spain on Friday July 14 and landed in Madrid Saturday morning without incident. Our first stop was the car rental counter. Just as we approached, Bill started to look furiously through his luggage for his car rental documents. Not only could he not find them, he could not remember which company he had rented from. (It’s a long walk to Valladolid Bill!)
As I stepped up to the Avis desk to get my keys, we asked if by chance Bill had rented from them. Yes came the reply. Luck knows no bounds! We collected our keys, loaded our vans and were off to Valladolid about 190km north west of Madrid. A fairly short two and a half hours later we were on the outskirts of Valladolid and here we would stay for quite some time. As others are sure to note in their reports, there are virtually no street signs! (well ok, there are but they are not where you would think to look). We toured the roads outside the city for a while to get used to the traffic circles and orient ourselves with all roads leading out of the town. Suddenly Bill’s van slowed from over 120kph to no more than 70 while we are on a highway! His four ways came on and we are being passed at very close quarters by tractor trailers moving at 120kph! I pulled ahead and exited at the first opportunity waiting for Bill on the ramp. A confused Bill exited the van and explained that their van just suddenly slowed to 70kph and would not go any faster. We were very lucky to find a person working at a gas station not far away who although he did not speak English pointed to the words on the dash: LIMITADO or something to that effect. Not only do vehicles have cruise control in Spain but they have a speed limiter as well! Bill noted that as the van was a Renault, that it must be a form of technology transfer from the F1 pit lane speed limiters.
We arrived at the hotel only to find out that Bill and family were not booked in till the next day and would have to spend the night in a neighboring hotel. We went to our respective rooms. Awake for almost 34 hours sleep quickly enveloped and erased any other concerns we may have had.
Sunday
By the time we awoke, had breakfast, got Bill moved from the other hotel and assembled the planes it was afternoon before we made our way to the flying site. We had been warned by the Americans that there was only ONE flying circle for everyone to practice on. 87 competitors, one circle, eight minutes per flight – do the math. Miraculously we both managed to get one flight very late in the evening. Apparently the organizers had not put an insurance policy in place on the offsite practice facility until Monday.
The Terradilos flying site is located at the edge of town only a twelve minute car ride from the hotel. It is a purpose built control line flying facility with permanent circles for F2A (speed), F2B (aerobatics), F2C (team race) and F2D (combat). The site also featured a workshop, washrooms, shower facilities as well as administrative offices. It looked like a good place to hold World Championship.
Monday
Heat! Searing dry heat!, 44 degrees of it made the consumption of water the order of the day. Forget to drink, leave your hat off and you were a good candidate for sunstroke or dehydration.
We arrived at the site just before 7:00 a.m. and I was able to book a practice slot six flyers away. Bill would wait eight more flyers and we both booked another slot as soon as we were finished flying. I would fly again after 11 more flights. Bill would fly again after 34 more flights. That’s how many flyers signed up for a flight between the time Bill booked his first flight and actually flew. We had been told that the grass practice facility would be open today and we went over to the University of Valladolid across the road to a well manicured track and field stadium. Just as we arrived the flying was stopped. The organizers wanted to re-arrange the stadium from two circles down to the one official grass circle. Tempers were flaring as there was plenty of room on the field for two circles including marshalling areas and a good buffer between them. The organizer knew best though and frustrated everyone by eliminating a perfectly good practice area. Perhaps a part of the frustration was that there were other well manicured grass fields right beside where we were flying and we were told that we could not fly on them because one was not insured and one was the official soccer field of Real Valladolid. What did think we were going to do to the grass? Eat it?
Bill and I signed up for a flight on the remaining grass circle and went back to the cement circle to await our next practice flight. By now, most of the competitors had arrived and were out at the site. While you might think that a World Championship is just one long session of aggressive flying and intense practice you would be way off the mark. Many of us have competed at this level for more than a dozen years and have developed close personal friendships with our fellow competitors. I always look forward to seeing friends like Luc DeSaucy from Belgium, Paolo Gomes and Bene Rodriguez from Brazil, Henk DeJong from Netherlands, Christoph Holterman and Uwe Degner from Germany, Igor Burger from Slovakia, Lauri Malila from Finland, Yuri Yatsenko from Ukraine, Serge Delebarde from France, Alberto Maggi from Italy, Keith Renecle and Loren Nell from South Africa and the list goes on. Each time we travel to a distant land we experience different cultures, cuisines, geography and do so with both old and new friends. It alone is reason enough to compete for a spot on the team. Competition isn’t just about competing. It is very much about the people of the competition.
Enough of the touchy feely – back to aggressive flying and intense practice.
We finished practicing late that evening. I was starting to feel fairly good about my plane and motor setup as was Bill. Already the talk was of using up to twenty percent nitro and moving up an inch in pitch to adjust to the high density altitude (up to 5300 ft.). I did not have this problem. I was flying one of the first electric F2B stunters in the World Champs. For more power I simply turned up the electronic needle valve. The motor is virtually impervious to temperature, humidity or altitude.
Tuesday
Tuesday was model processing and official practice day. It was also a bit of an historic occasion as my plane would be the first electric F2B stunter to ever be processed. The big question was would they weigh the plane with the battery or without. If they weighed it with the battery there would be grounds for protest as they do not compel planes with IC engines to carry a full load of fuel for weighing. It was a moot point as they weighed it without the battery (as they should have) and asked how I could prove that my batteries were not more than 40 volts. A quick demonstration with the Fluke meter and they were happy. I was ready for the competition to begin.
Wednesday
The format for this competition involved two circles and two surfaces. There was one concrete circle and one grass circle. Competitors would fly two flights on each surface with the best flight from each going toward qualification for the top fifteen fly off. Our first flight would be on grass. The conditions were not the greatest. There were thunderstorms, hail, strong gusting wind, clouds and sunshine. The first flight of the day was delayed 1.5 hours. Bob Hunt had the honour of making the first flight and it would also be the first flight of an electric powered stunter in a WC. Just after take off and barely into the wing over Bob started shouting “ELECTRICITY – ELECTRICITY” and pulled out of the maneuver. Well OK Bob we know you want to promote this new Electric F2B thing but really! This is a bit over the top! What Bob was really trying to convey was that his lines had picked up a charge and he was receiving shocks from his handle. It was funny to say the least (I’m not sure Bob thought it was funny but I thought it was hilarious!) He asked for and was granted a reflight.
I was up around 1:30. On landing just as my plane came almost to rest the tail lifted and over it went. No landing points and an 835.83 score. Bill flew just a few pilots after my flight and put in a flight of 787.9. Not a good start and not enough to make the final. I was disappointed in my landing and the way the plane flew and beat a hasty retreat to the hotel to bend the landing gear forward to keep the tail on the ground and make an adjustment to the elevator to correct the level flight height. At the end of the day Billy Werwage was in first place with the rest of the Americans, Chinese and French close by.
At this point the only practice site was the parking lot of a large stadium south of the hotel. We had been to see it (assisted in finding it by a very helpful local policeman who went out of his way to take us directly to the site) the other day and were not impressed. The ground had a very significant slope to it (3 feet in the diameter of the circle) and very rough pavement to say nothing of gear swallowing cracks. No practice today. Wednesday night we went to dinner at a traditional restaurant just off the Plaza Mayor in downtown Valladolid. The food was very good and the scenery and company even better. We saw an old building that must have dated from around the 14th century undergoing restoration on the square. The hand hewn details were stunning.
Thursday
The day dawned clear but there was still some wind.
We were on the concrete circle today. Bill flew at 10:50 a.m. and posted a 912.97 flight. I was up at 5:30 in a group that included names like Fitzgerald, Xin Ping, Hunt and Werwage. Tough company! I had a lackluster flight and did nothing to impress the judges posting a 913.9. The plane was tracking better but for the second time I took off with less power than I wanted. I had lots of power available but we were having trouble figuring out how to duplicate a precise setting.
The thin air was taking its toll. No one was putting up killer flights. Bottoms seemed to be suffering and top corners were wobbly. There was still lots of room for someone to steal the show. After two days of flying Dave Fitzgerald was at the head of the pack for a berth in the finals.
Thursday night we all went out for dinner in Valladolid at a nice pizzeria and delighted in a desert made in a frozen lemon full of lemon gelato. After the high heat of the day a taste to die for. Time for bed.
Friday
Again the weather was clear but the wind was quite strong at times.
Back on the grass, Bill flew at 9:20 a.m. and again put up a solid flight. I thought he might be letting the maneuvers get a bit soft and so I encouraged him to set his handle for more control. We went for some practice at the sloping parking lot and it seemed to make a difference. His maneuvers were sharper and intersections more precise. The Americans were there (no doubt spying on us from afar) and Yuri was practicing with his stunning new Yak.
I had been searching for some way to repeat a setting given my electric power train. In theory, the same setting on the speed control should produce the same rpm regardless of atmospheric conditions. We initially relied on the previous setting to get a setting for the next day. Remember there was no good place to practice. We came to the parking lot because we were stumped. I tried taching the prop and this seemed to work within the time frame that we were practicing. I was also noticing a variation in rpm which seemed to be caused by the initial starting voltage of the battery pack. This was not supposed to be the case with the Schulze ESC but I doubt they have ever tested their equipment in a regime as demanding as ours. There was a fairly big wind that afternoon and with the right setting my plane – SHOCKWAVE could handle it with ease. Off we went to put in my third official flight. The conditions were sunny, hot and windy and I posted a score of 848.4. Just one small problem. Again we set off too slow. Not a lot, but to score well you must be flying at the right speed.
Friday evening we all went to eat at the Bodegas of Fuensaldania in a small town about seven kilometers north of the city carved into the side of a hill at the end of a dirt cart path. You could not have been more surprised by the quality of food and wine served. The lamb was simply out of this world, the wine a perfect compliment to the food and the ambiance of a hundreds of years old wine cellar carved by hand out of solid stone was awe inspiring to say nothing of the great company provided by the whole Konduros family. Yes you too Christy
Saturday
The weather was much like the previous day variable winds in the a.m. and stronger wind in the afternoon.
Our last flights were flown off of the concrete circle. By now everyone knew that I was flying an electric powered plane and there was considerable interest from many competitors and bystanders. By all counts the experiment was a success.
I flew a half hour after Bill at 4:35 p.m. Bill put in his best flight of the contest by far scoring 951.87. He was aggressive and I think moved his entire game up a notch. Congratulations Bill, you flew well and were a great team mate.
There was not much wind to speak during my flight and I again launched under the desired power. I have come to the conclusion that to accurately set the power for a flight you must use a separate battery and set the wattage to the desired figure. Watts is a direct reflection of the resistance the propeller is experiencing and thus represents the equivalent amount of power to generate the same lap speed at a given density altitude. I flew out the flight with the knowledge that I had accomplished what I had set out to do. I scored a solid 968.87.
I had embraced a whole new power train technology, developed an entirely new plane with all new take apart technology, fully molded fuselage, fully tapered wing, flaps, elevator and stab, designed and manufactured a cnc’d forked end dual ball bearing bell crank and a full inline ball link based control horn system including an adjustable ball link elevator horn, made an RTV silicone mold for the cowl, developed a successful cooling system for the motor, battery and ESC, developed a successful battery containment system and here with less than thirty flights on the plane I posted a score just shy of being enough to be a finals qualifying score. I was and am a very happy camper. SHOCKWAVE will be back and we will once again advance the state of electric F2B flight.
Sunday
Sunday morning Bill and his family left for Barcelona and the beaches of the Mediterranean. We met up the next Saturday in Madrid for the trip home.
I had been asked by one of the people producing the video for the banquet if I would edit their script. I accepted and Sunday morning saw me busily working on the script while the first two rounds of the final were being flown. I was able to see most of the first and the entire second round. Most pilots put in very good flights. No one put in a great flight. The contest was still wide open. I then had to make a beeline to the editing facility to begin recording the voice over.
Sunday night was lost in a dream as I was whisked away by Laura and her husband Angel (Laura is an English teacher in Spain who was assisting with scoring and writing the video script and Angel was one of the circle marshals.) to another Bodega in San Cristobal that dated back to the thirteenth century. Inside we viewed a recently discovered room that housed a large wooden gallows with a long since used noose hanging from it and toured centuries old wine making equipment, Once again the food and wine were outstanding and the company of two great new friends was more than one could hope for. I was truly fortunate to have had the honour of working with the entire video crew and we will remain friends forever.
Monday
The finals on Monday were open for almost anyone in the top ten to make a bold statement with a jaw dropping flight but it did not happen. No guts no glory. It looked like people were flying not to loose rather than to win. Perhaps the most notable flight was made by the Italian Junior Maurizio Milani. The wind was variable and the density altitude was high. I suspect that the combination did not provide the conditions for great flying. At the end of the day it was Remi Berringer of France who had been the sharpest and most accurate. Congratulations Remi, a victory well deserved. Close behind were our neighbors to the south Dave Fitzgerald in second and Paul Walker in third.
As soon as the event was over, it was back into the studio to record and edit the final video segments. The video was shown at the banquet tow hours later and the master given to me. (I can provide copies on DVD for $15.00 U.S. please contact me at kdoherty@sympatico.ca) Note: the video is not a “Stunt Video” but rather a synopsis of the entire event and runs for about twenty minutes.
The banquet was held that night with the usual good food, wine and long goodbyes to good friends from around the world. Note to organizer: The banquet was excellent but you should not sit the volunteers and organizers outside. They deserved to be in the same room.
A Special Thanks
This would be a good place to thank those who formed Team Electric F2B Canada. At the head of the list are Chad Northeast and Adam Glatt of our Canadian F3A Pattern team both of whom fly large, powerful electric F3A pattern models. They were responsible for spec’ing out the motor, ESC and battery as well as providing a shopping list of support equipment and advice on how to use all of it. Their advice was so right on that some people who truly know about what’s good and what’s not, adjudged this setup the best of the electrics at the competition. Also included at the top of the list is Pat MacKenzie from our F2D combat team. Pat (who knew he was an electrical engineer?) designed and fabricated the electronic control system with the “Magic Wand” safety interface and electronic needle valve that worked flawlessly.
Adrian Ferazutti one of Canada’s best furniture makers who milled out the large bass blank for the fuselage mold to within a few thousandths of an inch of its square dimension. Bob Hunt who made the custom lost foam wing jigs in record time and expedited their delivery. Dave Gierke who assisted in the delivery of the jigs and stayed late while missing a personal engagement so that a hopelessly lost Canadian could find his home to pick up the jig. Bill Konduros who machined the bell crank and the take apart pieces. Windy whose videos were invaluable in making the E-RTV silicone mold for the cowl. Paul Walker whose insistence that 63 ounces plus fuel was a good weight to build to, Jason Shulman for leading the way and Harry Ells who first put me in touch with Chad.
It took almost 1400 hours to design and build SHOCKWAVE and it could only have been done with a team effort. An enormous thank you to each of you.
Some observations:
Judging
For the most part there was the all too familiar “non-judging” judging. Marking most maneuvers out of a scale of 1. i.e. 7, 7.2, 7.3, 7, 7.5.
Judging too low. One judge felt that it was their mission in life to award marks of 4, 4.5 etc. The implication is that 60% of each element of the maneuver was performed incorrectly. At this level this is almost impossible. We work on a deduction system not an award system. While I agree that it is important and necessary to use the entire scoring range when applicable, a quick review of other score sheets revealed similar punitive scoring. This is not acceptable.
Halo Scoring. I witnessed angels descend from on high (they weren’t coming for me) to try to lift a well known competitor to a place only they could take him to. It is not the competitor’s problem but it is ours and something needs to be done to drastically overhaul the scoring system.
Ballooning. No not the kind that was on display during the opening ceremonies. (but just about as big). There was significant score ballooning during the afternoon of the later qualification rounds. Since not everyone was flying during this period it is simply unfair and must be eliminated.
The site
First let me congratulate the organizers of the 2006 FAI F2B World Champs. They made a good first attempt at providing an excellent facility and I would come back in a heartbeat. Practice facilities are not an option in the days prior to the contest and during the contest. One circle of each type of surface should be the minimum for at least four days prior to start of official competition. The quality and suitability of the offsite practice venue (rough, sloping pavement full of ruts) was not acceptable. Also not acceptable was the rough, unrolled, uncut grass (hay?) practice circle (beside the main circle). We travel a long way at great personal cost and our planes are worth a great deal. Please respect us.
The main concrete circle is not large enough. Pilots must be able to fly on full length lines right to the edge of the centre disc without being in danger of hitting something. There should also be no drop off from the disc to the ground. The hedges, although I am sure they make some landscape architect happy have no place surrounding a circle. Remove them and grade all of the ground to the same level. There was also no need to limit the stadium to one grass circle. Stunt flyers do not mind another stunt plane flying nearby even during official flights. But again, these are not large problems and could be corrected easily.
Organization
Overall I thought they all did a very good job. While we may not have been in agreement with all of their decisions, the contest proceeded in an orderly fashion and the conditions were as equitably fair to all as could be hoped for. I think most competitors would love to come back to this beautiful city.
Electric at the WC’s
I think most would agree that the era of electric powered F2B flight is here to stay. The performance of the electric powered planes was for the most part the equal of many of the IC systems. They will only get better!
In the battle of the power trains, I think there were two clear winners.
The obvious:
The P.A. 75 of Dave Fitzgerald allowed him to motor anywhere he wanted to in full control and at a speed that allowed for a smooth accurate presentation.
The not so obvious:
When set right (like on the practice circle - duh) my Plettenburg Orbit 30-14 with Schulze ESC and Thunder Power 5S2P Pro-Lite 4200’s was a match for any power plant with controlled power delivery and very consistent lap times.
The four strokes had to fly such a fast lap time that trying to be precise was almost impossible. They slowed a lot during the maneuvers and while a four stroke won, I expect to see less and less of them in the winners circle as larger two strokes and electrics prevail.
Will an electric powered plane win the WC’s in the near future? Yes and I would be surprised if they do not dominate.
To Bob Hunt, Bruno Van Hoek and Willi Schmitz, we can all be very proud of what we have accomplished. It was an honour to be part of this group!
Hasta Pronto!
Kim Doherty.
Topic: WC's 2006 Valladolid Spain (Read 1629 times)